Shivaji founded the Maratha Empire, challenging Mughal dominance in western India through guerrilla warfare and establishing alternative governance structures with different taxation systems. The Marathas collected chauth (one-quarter revenue) and sardeshmukhi (additional tenth) from territories they protected, creating a decentralized confederacy that extracted resources while offering military security against Mughal and other threats.

Maratha resistance inspired devotional poetry in Marathi celebrating Shivaji as defender of Hindu interests against Muslim rule, though modern scholarship complicates this religious framing. Tukaram and other Bhakti poets wrote in vernacular Marathi accessible to common people, creating literary traditions that intertwined spiritual devotion with emerging Maratha political identity, influencing regional literature's relationship to power and resistance.